1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to merchandising and, more particularly, to retail shelf merchandising.
2. Background Art
Digital signage or the use of electronic media in retail stores and other spaces has traditionally been accomplished through the use of static lists of media assets played back on a display in sequential order at designated time intervals. This system allows for these displays to show specific media elements related to specific products. There is very little in the way of other examples in this area. The concept of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enabled inventory control has been considered, but exclusively in the context of controlling inventory of products on the shelf with the sensors detecting when shelves needed to be restocked or products reordered. Some industries have experimented with this approach, but many of the projects were abandoned due to customer privacy issues and cost constraints. Similarly, some retailers have attempted to get manufacturers to attach RFID tags to every product—again, for inventory management not point-of-sale marketing and messaging, but faced cost issues. RFID has also been used for active detection, where a user or consumer must place a product or tag near a reader for it to be read similarly to a bar code or mag card swipe. These systems are typically used for entry and security systems. It is apparent from the prior art that RFID tags have not been effectively utilized for retail marketing.